Political analyst Mohd Zaki Harry Susanto
KOTA KINABALU: The dream of millions of Sabahans for an end to the political culture of “buhangkot” (frog) is likely to become reality soon.
This means the public lingering perception, associating some Sabah politicians with the nicknames ‘King of Frog ‘, ‘Bonong and ‘Buhangkot’ will be ‘erased’ forever.
All eyes are on the historic moment at next week’s Sabah Legislative Assembly meeting.
As expected, the Sabah government will likely introduce the anti-hopping bill at the Sabah Legislative Assembly meeting, which is scheduled to be held from May 22-25.Â
This was recently confirmed by State Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Christina Liew.
So far, all political parties in Sabah, including the ruling bloc, Warisan, BN and KDM, have expressed support for the law.
Under the provisions of the Anti-Hopping Act, which was passed and implemented at parliamentary level and will soon come into force in Sabah, the elected members of parliament (or state legislative assembly) will lose their seats if elected representatives change political parties (or party hopping).
This is the essence of the proposed bill aimed at stabilising the political situation in Sabah. Previously several state governments in Sabah have “collapsed” because of the party hopping or better known as frog culture. Â
“If the anti-hopping bill is passed in the upcoming Sabah state assembly session, it will be a special symbolic gift to the people of Sabah who are celebrating the Kaamatan Festival (in May) and will see the end of the buhangkot’s political clout in the Sabah political arena,” said a political analyst Mohd Zaki Harry Susanto.
According to Zaki, the anti-hopping bill needs to be passed in the State Legislative Assembly for the good of the people and the state.
He said this is because the people are fed up with political polemics that are full of surprises and often cause confusion.
Zaki said the people of Sabah actually want a strong government for the sake of economic stability and the continued development of the state’s infrastructure.
“The aspirations of the people of Sabah are now becoming clearer and more mature. Generally they want the state government to be stable politically and economically,” he said.
